Ladder and tumbler bearing for elevator-dredges.



PATENTED JUNE '13, 1905.

S. L. G. KNOX. LADDER AND TUMBLER BEARING FOR ELEVATOR DRBDGES.

APPLIOA'IION FILED 0013.24, 1904.

4 SHEETS-SHEET 1.

PATENTED JUNE 13. 1905.

S. L. G. KNOX.

LADDER AND TUMBLER BEARING FOR ELEVATOR DREDGBS.

APPLICATION FILED 001224, 1904.

4 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

| Ann K Mg w w u- I I a. 1-

d iv N PATENTED JUNE 13, 1905. S. L. G. KNOX. LADDER AND TUMBLER BEARING FOR ELEVATOR DREDGES.

APPLICATION FILED 0013.24, 1904.

4 SHEETS-SHEET 3.

PATENTED JUNE '13, 1905.

S. L. G. KNOX.

LADDER AND TUMBLER BEARING FOR ELEVATOR DRBDGES.

APPLICATION FILED 001224, 1904.

4 SHEETS-SHEET 4.

Ewen/Z07.

UNTTEE STATES Patented June 13, 1905.

PATENT OEETQE.

SAMUEL LIPPINGOTT GRISWVOLD KNOX, OF MILWVAUKEE, VVISOONSIN, ASSIGNOR TO THE BUOYRUS COMPANY, OF SOUTH MILlVAUKEE, \VISOONSIN, A CORPORATION OF VVISOONSIN.

LADDER AND TUIVIBLER BEARING FOR ELEVA'I OR-DREDGE S.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 792,273, dated June 13, 1905.

Application filed October 24, 1904. Serial No. 229,833.

To all whom, it may concern:

Be it known that I, SAMUEL LIPPINOOTT (imswonn KNox, a citizen of the United States, residing in the city and county of Milwaukee, State of \Visconsin, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Ladder and Tumbler Bearings for Elevator-Dredges;

and I do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the invention, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same.

The invention relates to elevator-dredges of the endless-bucket-chain type, where one tumbler is carried at the upper and outer end of a ladder that is connected to the upper end of a tower-like framework and has a limited rocking movement in relation thereto.

The main object in view is to lighten the structure as much as possible without sacrificing its strength and efiiciency, and to this end it is characteristic of the improved construction that the strains due to digging, weight of ladder, &c., are centralized at the longitudinal central line of the ladder-bearings and all eccentric loading on the bearings is obviated.

The improvement is illustrated in the accompanying drawings, wherein Figure 1 is a side elevation of the upper end of the tower and the corresponding end of the ladder of an elevator-dredge having my invention. Fig. 2 is a top plan view of the same parts. Figs. 3 and 4 are detail views of the trunnion-like projections from the sides of the upper end of the ladder. Figs. 5 and 6 are detail views of the bearings that are mounted on the upper end of the tower and which support and carry the ladder projections, and Fig. 7 is a detail 01' the tumbler-shaft sleevebearing.

Referring to the views, (I, a denote the side pieces at the upper end of the tower, and b 5 indicate the side pieces of the ladder at the corresponding end. Except in the construction and arrangement of the bearing-pieces by which these parts are connected together there is nothing new in the construction of the tower or the ladder.

c 0 indicate pedestals that are rigidly secured, by bolts 0 or otherwise, to the upper end of the tower and have semicircular bearings c c, and (Z (Z denote brackets that are securely bolted at (Z (Z to the side pieces of the ladder and have trunnion-like projections c 0 extending laterally from them. The projections 0 a tit in the bearings c c, and the brackets c 0 thus support the weight of the upper end of the ladder, the upper tumbler, and the adjacent parts. The projections a c are semicircularin form, as shown in Fig. 4, and have their exterior surfaces machined, as shown at f in Fig. 3, to accurately fit the bearing-surfaces of the brackets, which preferably are provided with raised centers 0 on which the plain part of the projections run, and grooved or chamfered edges 0 as plainly shown in Fig. 6, in which it the flanges f on the trunnion projections.

The pedestals c 0 may be shaped and constructed in any suitable way, provided they have the semicircular open-topped bearings c. The brackets (Z (Z may also be variously shaped and constructed, provided they have the projections c 0 extending laterally from their upper ends, so as to form trunnion-like supports for the ladder. These projections have semicircular recesses c @"on their inner sides, and the recesses form the bearings for the bearing-sleeves 70 [L of the upper tumblershaft, that are preferably constructed, as shown in Fig. 7, with a central exterior circumferential rib 7b, that is inclosed by flanges b c on recesses c c. The tumbler-shaft is not shown; but it will be readily understood that it is journaled in an ordinary manner in the bearing-sleeves h h, and these sleeves are secured in their bearings c e by dowels (Z so as to cause them to turn with the trunnion projections e c of the ladder end. The bearings in the tower-pedestals are thus concentric with the axis of the upper tumbler sha'ft, and as the shaft-sleeves are concentric with and rest in the semicircular bearings of the trunnion projections the center of application of the weight of and load on the ladder coincides with the longitudinal center line of the bearings which support them, thereby doing away with any eccentric loading on the bearings or the structure carrying them and permitting of a lighter construction without weakening the machine or impairing the elliciency of its operation.

The bearing-sleeves and trunnion-bearings are held in the bearings c c of the tower-pedestals by removable caps 11 11, that are bolted or otherwise secured to the pedestals at 11 '2", and in order to permit of thelimitcd rocking or swinging of the ladder that is necessary in use these caps are notched, recessed, or cut away at v" 1' at diametrically opposite points, so as to permit the ends of the trunnion projections (a e to pass above the ends of the semicircular bearings c c in the tower-pedestals. This will be clearly understood when it is considered that the radius a of the cap corresponds only with the exterior surface of the bearing-sleeve, while the radius 0X of the sen'iicircular bearing-surface c in the pedestals corresponds with the Outer surface w of the trunnion projection. It is therefore necessary to cut away the cap at the points i ndicated, so as to permit the ends :1: y, Fig. 4, of the trunnion projections to pass above the edges s s, Fig. 5, of the pedestal-bearing surface.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim is 1. In a dredge, the combination of the tower cured in semicircular recesses in the ladder projections, the center of application of the load. transmitted by the ladder projections coinciding with the longitudinal center line of the tower-bearings in which they rest.

3. In a dredge, the combination ol the tower having semicircular bearings at its upper end, a ladder having lateral trunnion-like projections at the corresponding end journaled in said bearings, tumbler-shaft bearing-sleeves secured in semicircular recesses in the ladder projections, and semicircular caps secured to the tower-bearings and cut away to permit the ladder projections to have a limited rocking movement in the tower-bearings.

4:. In a dredge, the combination of the tower having semicircular bearings at its upper end, a ladder having, lateral trunnion-like projections at the corresponding end journaled in said bearings, tun'ibler-slnttt bearing-sleeves secured in semicircular recesses in the ladder projections, and semicircular caps secured to the tower-bearings and iuclosing the ladder projections and the tumbler-shaft sleeves, said caps being cut away at and to permit the ladder projections to have a limited rocking movement in the tower-bearings.

In a dredge, the combination of the tower having semicircular bearings at its upper end, a ladder having lateral trumiion-like projections at the corres 'ionding end journaled in said bearings, tumbler-shaft bearing-sleeves secured in semicircular recesses in the ladder projections, and semicircular caps secured to the tower-bearings and inclosing the ladder projections and tumbler-shaft sleeves, said tower-bearings, ladder projections, sha'lt' sleeves and caps all having the same axial center.

In testimony whereof I aliix my signature in presence of two witnesses.

IVitnesses:

HARRY B. HAYDEN, PAUL C. Boon. 

